Huge Building Near Navy Yard In Contract — How Will Dumbo Be Impacted?

Those of us who’ve been around for a while might remember when Dumbo was chock full of creative workspaces like the ones at 47 Hall Street, a commercial building between Flushing Avenue and the BQE, that’s in contract to be sold for upwards of $160,000,000.

The Manhattan-based real estate firm Westbrook Partners has signed a contract to buy the enormous commercial property south of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, located in Brooklyn’s Tech Triangle.

Westbrook will pay between $160,000,000 and $170,000,000 for the 550,000-square-foot building, according to The Real Deal. An international investment group, Westbrook has bought in Brooklyn before, having purchased the Brooklyn Heights residential rental and former Jehovah’s Witness property The Standish in 2014.

Map by Reonomy

Previously marketed as a creative space for artists, current tenants pay as low as $6-8 per square foot, but the sellers have not been renewing leases, as Brownstoner wrote in September. Buyer Westbrook has been mum on plans, but if it undertakes a renovation, an increase in rents seems likely.

A lack of amenities or public transit in the area may keep rents prices somewhat checked, however. In Dumbo, where amenities and subway service are better, average rents cost roughly $45 per square foot, according to commercial broker Chris Havens of Aptsandlofts.com, which was recently acquired by Citi Habitats.

As office rents rise elsewhere in Brooklyn, the question rises of how potentially capped-out rents in Dumbo will be impacted — will rents be pushed higher still? Will alternative neighborhood options for commercial space bring Dumbo prices down?

Office space in Clinton Hill has held out against the surge, with spaces still available for $6 a square foot, but in the face of dwindling supply and growing demand for office space it’s unclear how much longer such prices will exist.

Tenant demographics could also change following any revamping of the building. “The building currently houses a smorgasbord of painters, sculptors, photographers, horticulturists, artists craftspeople, small business and established companies,” the property’s website reads.

Members of Brooklyn’s expanding tech and maker scene may be more realistic tenants if rents increase.

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